I saw this story on the Smoking Gun website. In the guy's written complaint about how the prison is starving inmates to death, he often complains about the inadequate size of the cakes or the small amount of cookies inmates get. He also blames his breathlessness when doing physical activity on the fact that he is being starved to death...

I worked in juvenile detention for five years, and as an adult probation officer for three. When I worked in detention, we had to eat the same food the kids did (we could bring food in, but only if the kids could not see us eating it, which was very impractical). The food was exactly what they served the adult jail inmates, except that if there were any leftovers, the kids and staff could have seconds.

In my experience, jail food is generally not of the highest nutrition, but generally the problem is the opposite of what this man is claiming. Most inmates actually gain weight while incarcerated, because the food is starchy, fatty and high in calories. It's "institutional" food, not much different than I remember dorm food actually, where fat is added rather than seasonings to make cheap ingredients palatable to the most people.

We were told that the jails actually intentionally add fat so as to prevent inmates from losing weight (as evidence against claims of being starved).

Even with this man's claims, the jail holding him will undoubtedly defend themselves by (truthfully) stating that most inmates actually gain weight on the diet. The jail nurse will also testify that the man is in better health having lost the 100 lbs. It's extremely unlikely that he will win this lawsuit.

Actually most prisons allow inmates a savings account they can use for buying items from the commissary (candy, snacks, television sets, stereos, books, stationery, MP3 players, cigarettes, etc), but I think there is a cap on how much can be purchased monthly.

I would still bet money against his winning the lawsuit though. My guess is that this might be a strategy he or his attorney cooked up in order to offer to drop the lawsuit in exchange for a plea agreement of some type. I would guess that it will work to a degree. States' Attorney's offices generally are very willing to accept plea agreements (bird in the hand, logic), but they're not going to offer much in return for an obviously bogus law suit vs a murder conviction.

Now, if the state's case against him is super air-tight, they won't accept a plea from him, and he'll still probably lose in the "starvation" case.

Another possibility:

In the county I worked for, there was a diabetic inmate who didn't file a law suit, but did file a complaint about the food, and our county paid to have a nutritionist come up with an individualized plan for him (which wasn't much different than what the other inmates were getting, except he didn't get any of the super sweet desserts) AND when the inmate was discharged, the county sent him a bill for the consult with the nutritionist and the specialized modifications of his meals.

Many prisoners file numerous frivolous lawsuits without the aid of a lawyer. They go to the law library in the prison, read up on the process, then just start filing on their own.

They do it because they have a lot of time on their hands, and that is one way to pass the time.

Also, they can file their claims for FREE (most people have to pay a filing fee and other court costs) because they have been deemed by the courts to be indigent.

So there are no financial obstacles to them filing as many claims as they want, for anything they can think of. If the cases get tossed or they lose, it costs them nothing. But if they win, they get something out of it after all. It's win-win for them.

YUCK! I have a feeling this prison diet is probably rather gag-worthy.

Very interesting story, though.

"In the county I worked for, there was a diabetic inmate who didn't file a law suit, but did file a complaint about the food, and our county paid to have a nutritionist come up with an individualized plan for him (which wasn't much different than what the other inmates were getting, except he didn't get any of the super sweet desserts) AND when the inmate was discharged, the county sent him a bill for the consult with the nutritionist and the specialized modifications of his meals."

Wow. Just wow. The poor criminal probably had thousands of dollars in debt to pay towards the county once released. I almost feel bad for him.

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a 3,000 calorie diet is way more than what anyone should be eating every day.

Uh, no it's not, really. My DH needs at least 5,000 calories a day or he loses weight rapidly. When he works out and is working (very physical job) he needs as much as 8,000 and still doesn't gain weight.

He is an extreme example, being about 7 feet tall, but teen boys and athletes need nearly as much.

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